


always keep 'em on a leash

by Dandybear



Series: Bi-weekly Prompts Series [1]
Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demon Hunters, Annabelle is a little bitch and can meet me in the pit, Big Worm and Little Worm, Demon Dax, F/F, possessed doll
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 09:43:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19827535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dandybear/pseuds/Dandybear
Summary: “I believe that I specifically said not to piss off the cursed doll!”Jadzia’s body makes a spiderweb crack on the windshield. Limp head, bloody temple, and a thumbs up.“Thank you, Doctor Tigan, would you like to tap in and ask it about its feelings?”Ezri flips her off from her spot behind another car.Biweekly Prompt Challenge: Paranormal Investigators AUEzri and Jadzia are worms who fight supernatural crime and with each other.





	always keep 'em on a leash

**Author's Note:**

> 2019 will be the summer of Star Trek and Hozier I guess. IDK, I worked 8 hours and then went to class, so I have like -3 brain cells right now.
> 
> This is for the KiraDax Biweekly Prompt Challenge. 
> 
> Bon appetit.

“I believe that I specifically said  _ not to piss off  _ the cursed doll!”

Jadzia’s body makes a spiderweb crack on the windshield. Limp head, bloody temple, and a thumbs up.

“Thank you, Doctor Tigan, would you like to tap in and ask it about its feelings?”

Ezri flips her off from her spot behind another car.

_ Become a field agent, they said. It looks good on a resume, they said.  _ **_They_ ** _ failed to mention the fine print of getting bonded to a chaos demon and its jackass of a host. _

So, yeah, there’s a cursed doll hovering above the clock tower in a purple cyclone.

Her radio crackles,  _ “Doctor Tigan, this is Deputy Kira, we’ve found the girl--” _ cut off by screeching.

_ “That thing isn't coming quietly,” _ Kira says.

“Just try and keep her from hurting herself until we can get the doll subdued,” Ezri keeps her voice from shaking.

More screaming, and the windows of the clocktower shatter into glass rain. Ezri covers herself with her coat, missing most of it, but getting a scratch on her hand.

“Damn it! Kira, everything okay?”

_ “Just make it quick! Over and out.” _

“Alright, this is getting annoying,” Jadzia says, shucking her jacket onto the dented hood. 

“We can use a spell, we don’t--” Ezri’s pawing through her notes.

Jadzia rolls up her sleeves and grabs one of the big shards with her gloved hand.

“I’m listening,” Jadzia says.

Great, now the pressure’s on. She flips through pages, stumbling over her words.

Truth is, she’s a rookie, but she’s supposed to be the sensible one. Jadzia’s a showoff with a perfect clearance rate. And, her perfect score comes at a great and terrible cost.

The cost she’s ready to pay again.

“We can… we can try and find the original spirit’s motives and put it to rest!” Ezri suggests.

Jadzia takes the page and gives Ezri a smile with knitted brows.

“Ez, I’m telling you this not to be patronizing, but because it might one day save your life. There is a whole section of the graveyard back at HQ for agents who thought they could reason with violent spirits.”

And with that, she returns to her arms. Just a drop of blood raises white script, glowing and intricate, where smooth skin just was.

“Alright, Dax, time to come out,” Jadzia says through gritted teeth.

The cost is chipping off another piece of Jadzia as offering to her demonic passenger, Dax. The Beast of Eight Souls. A worm demon, summoned by a priestess of old. With each hand it changes, it develops another power. And each host it chooses with care. Ezri, it swears, will be host number nine. 

That is, Ezri dodges a bicycle, if she and Jadzia live that long. She can't think about outliving her partner. Jadzia's strong. Not just spiritually, Ezri's seen her lift a grown man with ease. She's formidable, charming, and a huge pain in the ass. And, Ezri can't imagine doing this without her. She's just the bookworm, Jadzia's the real agent. 

But, bookworm or not, Ezri needs to focus. Kira's counting on them, and Jadzia will need her to seal away whatever is in that doll, once it's been subdued. She needs to focus, keep her head in the game, because that’s always her problem. She’s too afraid to jump, to afraid to fall, so she does nothing and loses anyway.

Ezri takes a deep breath and finds her center, feeling the magic pooling there, “I’m going to make a purification circle, try and lure it in!”

Dax nods, an abstract figure crackling with untamed energy.

"Form One: Lela!" Jadzia summons. Lela, the high priestess whose body became engulfed by flames.

Gunfire has Ezri’s head whipping to the direction of the noise. The little girl, Ziyal’s grown some new limbs and is currently scaling the side of the clock tower with--oh  _ shit _ . Deputy Kira’s head lolls from her spot on the kid’s shoulder, being unconscious in a fireman’s carry.

“Dax! The deputy!” Ezri shouts.

“I see her,” the demon grinds out.

“I’m gonna fix this,” Ezri says with more confidence than she feels.

Which is how she finds herself taking the stairs of an antique clocktower. Her heart might just explode out of her chest. She has to pause to pant on the third floor, but then a chunk of the wall comes down with the impact of Dax hitting it.

“How are things going for you?” Dax’s distorted voice is still very Jadzia as they cough up some dust.

“Need to up my cardio,” Ezri jokes.

“Atta girl,” the demon shakes it off, crawling back out of the fresh hole with elongated limbs. (Third Form: Emony.)

“Alright, Ezri, time to play hero,” she says.

And, she’s gotta, because how else is she going to ask Kira out for coffee when this is all over?

Said deputy is bleeding from the nose and still trying to talk Ziyal down by the time Ezri bursts out onto the roof.

Ziyal spots Ezri and screeches, but Ezri’s prepared, firing a salt round into her open mouth and watching the kid recoil.

“You okay?” she takes the moment to check on Kira. Kira nods, eyeing her own gun, at Ziyal’s feet.

Ezri passes her weapon to Kira, feeling very cool when she doesn't fumble on the toss. 

Stun window closing, she grabs a spell sheet from her book and breaks into a sprint, slapping paper against Ziyal’s forehead. The presence possessing the girl shrieks, shrinking and smoldering.

Down below, a several car alarms go off, and there’s the groan of metal.

“Is Agent Idaris okay?” Kira asks.

“She’s fine,” Ezri grits her teeth. The spell gathers in her stomach and bleeds out of her fingers.

“Kira, I need you to draw Ziyal out. Speak to her!”

Kira looks at Ezri with big eyes. She takes a deep breath and keeps her gun low as she addresses the possessed girl in front of her.

"Ziyal! It's Nerys. Hey, do you remember that time we went camping? The whole Girl Scout Troop ended up getting stuck on the mountainside in the rain. And, to add insult to injury, our sleeping bags got all wet. But, your dad, who has never camped a day in his life, insisted you bring a whole bag of hand warmers, so they ended up keeping us from freezing to death."

Ziyal's features stay contorted in a snarl, but she's frozen, absorbed in Kira's words. 

"I really hate your dad, but he did save us that night. And he'd want you safe," Kira continues. 

Their progress is undone in the shape of Jadzia's body being slapped into the roof. Dax does three full somersaults before landing in a whumph.

“There are nasty little shadow babies down there and they’ve got a pretty good collective throwing arm,” she grunts.

“Agent Idaris!” Kira runs to help Jadzia up.

Which is a bad move on two accounts, but mostly on the first, wherein Kira was the sole tether the child’s spirit had to sanity. Without her grounding Ziyal, the demon pushes back with full force, burning the spell with ease and blasting the radius.

_ Time to be a hero. _

Ezri throws herself at the danger, because at least if she dies she’ll never have to have another family dinner, and salvation from the worm.

The wave hits her and it feels like a saline drip filled with fire ants. Images flood her brain, grubby children, the bottom of a well, chains, her own upbringing of stilted dinners and high expectations. Then, a slick crawling through the darkness and Dax is climbing her, up her torso and pushing itself into her mouth. She bites down and hears a cry.

Reality comes back into focus with Jadzia shaking her hand, out of focus, “Feral little bastard,” she says with pride before Ezri blacks out again.

Ezri comes to in the local hospital with a mouth that tastes like blood and a splitting headache. Ziyal’s in the bed across and lifts a hand in greeting. Then she points to the doorway, where Jadzia leans against the doorframe talking to the deputy. Even after getting her ass handed to her by a doll, Jadzia is gorgeous  _ and tall _ . Instead of looking like a mess, she’s artfully bedraggled with a bruised eye and a split lip. Her shirt’s torn, but in a teasing of bare flesh and bandage.

"So, what's next for you two?" Kira asks, batting her eyelashes.

"A shower for sure,” Jadzia says. 

"Well, if you ever need any more help…." Kira says. 

"With showering?" Jadzia's smile turns wicked. 

Kira pushes through a blush and she stammers, “With the ghosts and things… I think I can help out,” her eyes find Ezri and she comes rushing over.

“Oh! Doctor Tigan, you’re awake. Are you okay?”

Ezri is stuck between playing tough to look cool in front of Jadzia and playing baby to get more attention from Kira. She fumbles somewhere between, putting on an exaggerated brave face.

“How long was I out?”

Kira checks her temperature, hands cool as they push Ezri’s sweaty hair back. Dark eyes turn soft and glossy, looking at Ezri with such tender concern that her heart physically flinches.

“A few hours, for a second there it looked like you weren’t going to make it,” Kira says softly.

“I had no doubts, Ez here is tougher than she looks,” Jadzia ruffles Ezri’s hair.

“I will bite you a second time,” she says.

“See?”

Once Kira’s gone, Jadzia lays it out properly, in hushed whispers.

“That thing… I don’t know if we got rid of all of it, there might still be some--”

“In me. Yeah, I figured,” Ezri sighs, “Looks like Dax has some competition.”

Jadzia’s necklace glows in affirmation. Their passenger expressing displeasure.

“It’s a bridge we’ll cross when we come to it, now get some rest,” Jadzia pushes Ezri back with an index finger to the ribs.

“Ah! You’re just telling me that because you have a date with the Deputy,” Ezri sulks, then sulks harder, realizing how much of her hand she’s shown.

Jadzia’s eyes turn soft, “Actually, she told me she had to work. Left something for you though.”

A teddy bear, the kind from the gift shop, with a note.

_ “Sorry if this is too close to the thing we just had to fight. I’m 90% sure it’s not cursed.  _

_ Thank you for saving my life today. _

_ -K” _

It’s followed by a series of digits.

“What is this?” Ezri asks.

“It’s a phone number, Ezri.”

She waits for Jadzia to leave before pumping her fist.

“God, you’re lame,” Ziyal says.

**Author's Note:**

> Dax powers:  
> Lela: Fire form  
> Tobin: Turn to smoke  
> Emony: Elongated limbs  
> Audrid: Invulnerability  
> Torias: Flight  
> Joran: Super strength  
> Curzon: Mind manipulation  
> Jadzia: Electricity
> 
> Comments make me happy mwah I kiss you.


End file.
